


You Never Learned How to Fly?

by Meribell64



Series: Gifts and Birthdays [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Fear of Flying, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Flying, Gift Fic, Post-Time Skip, Wyvern Riding, Wyvern riding!, Wyverns, byleth is also still learning emotions, byleth is oblivious to feelings, byleth never learned how to fly, no beta we die like Glenn, soft, still don't know how to tag pls teach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24418561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meribell64/pseuds/Meribell64
Summary: Alternative title: Byleth sees the pros and cons of flying with Claude von RieganByleth thinks about what it is like to be up in the air and Claude insists on giving her first wyvern riding lesson.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: Gifts and Birthdays [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012686
Comments: 10
Kudos: 88





	You Never Learned How to Fly?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Escopeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escopeta/gifts).



> Happy birthday to @Escopeta!! She is a wonderful writer and person and you should totally go check out her fic like right now.
> 
> I hope this gift is to your liking!! 
> 
> I would also like to note: I 100% know nothing about wyverns and how they work especially in flying. Let’s see how this goes.

Byleth always considered wyverns to be magical in their own special kind of way. They were strong, powerful, and are just as loyal as any other pegasus or horse you could find. She finds them to be misunderstood creatures most times and maybe that’s why she resonated with them so much; she felt misunderstood herself when people first met her. It rang the same when she had first entered the monastery and agreed to teach her little fawns so many years ago (although now they could be considered her grown deers). 

However, now things were different. She certainly doesn’t see herself as the same person she was before she began teaching the Golden Deers and she had to thank her students as well as one other person. “Hey Teach!” Speaking of the devil…

She turned her head to see Claude walking up to her from behind. “Claude,” she greets casually, stopping in her walk. “Did you need something?”

“Just seeing what you’re up to,” He answers as he steps up to her and crosses his arms behind his head. They continue the walk together, his cape fluttering behind him as does her coat.

“You’re not trying to skip out on your work, are you?” Byleth asked, letting out a small hum, knowing full well that he wasn’t the kind of person to do that, at least not anymore compared to his academy days. She has seen how hard he works for this army.

“Aw Teach, do you think so little of me?” He asked, giving a playful pout to her.

The ex-professor couldn’t help but feel the corner of her lips jerking upwards, showing him a rare smile that she gives once in a while. “Of course not,” she says to him. 

She sees him smile, one that was genuine as he brings his arms down to his sides. “So where are you off to at this time?” He asks her.

“I was just heading to the aviary. It’s my turn to feed the wyverns,” she answers as they walk together towards the aviary.

“Ahh, I guess it’s been a while since I’ve seen Kir,” Claude says as he brings his hand to his chin, thinking about when was the last time he has seen his beloved wyvern.

As Byleth looks at him in the corner of her eyes, she could also see some sense of wistful thinking in his face, as if thinking about something that wasn’t here. She wondered what it could be. “Care to join me then?” she asked, despite knowing the answer to it already.

She hears the playful hum of his voice. “Oh I don’t know, I certainly don’t want to be distracting you from your duties now,” he grinned. 

Byleth couldn’t help but playfully roll her eyes at him as she gave a gentle nudge to him with her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll just put you on stable duty again with Lorenz.”

Claude’s nose scrunched up slightly, remembering back in his Academy days when she did that. “Come on Teach, we’re long past our Academy days aren’t we?” he asked.

“Of course.”

They eventually reached the aviary where the wyverns were kept. Claude coaxed his own wyvern, Kir, out of his roost, while Byleth coaxed another wyvern, who went under the name Aenir, out of her own. Aenir was found injured and quite combative to everyone who approached her. Even Claude had trouble calming her down until Byleth had to step in. It took a while, but under Byleth’s command, it eventually calmed down enough to allow someone to get near. Her wing was injured and a deep laceration was found along its leg. The only person it seemed to listen was Byleth when they took the wyvern under their care and so since then, she has been caring for it. 

It’s been about two weeks since then, the injury recovering and Aenir was ready to take to the skies. Byleth would watch Aenir fly and soar into the air under her supervision and often she wondered if she would leave the monastery one day and not come back. And yet she always did. Byleth felt this strange warm feeling bubbling up in her chest each time she returned. She still didn’t have a name for it.

“You know, I’ve noticed something,” Claude’s voice brought her out of her thoughts as he finished pouring the wyverns’ feed into their trough. 

“Yes?” Byleth asked as she made sure they poured enough to feed both wyverns. 

“I don’t think I ever saw you ride our newest wyvern addition here,” He pointed out.

“Aenir,” Byleth reminded him as Aenir gave a snort of displeasure at the disuse of her name from him.

Claude instinctively raised his hands in defense towards the female wyvern. “Aenir,” he gently corrected before returning his attention to Byleth. “When I really think about it, for all your tutoring in helping others pass their pegasus knight certification or when I needed to do my wyvern rider certifications back in the Academy, I don’t think I ever saw you once fly.” 

_Oh goddess._ She had hoped this would never get brought up, but apparently the fates thought this was the day her luck had run out. “Oh?” she could only say as she purposefully averted her gaze and focused on Aenir, giving her a gentle stroke on her head. 

As if sensing her apprehension, she could see the biggest, mischievous grin that spread across the tactician’s face. “Teach…” He drawled her name out.

“Claude…” Byleth returned in a warning voice.

He took a step towards her. She took a step back instinctively.

Byleth looked up at him and she could see his eyes gleaming with newfound excitement of this discovery. Rarely she felt intimidated, yet right now, she felt like a prey waiting to be pounced by her predator.

“Could it be that you don't know how to fly?” he finally asked the long awaited question.

There it was. She let out a small huff of breath, similar to what could be akin to a scoff, as if the very notion of not knowing how to fly was ridiculous… The fact she, indeed, did not know how to fly a flying mount like a pegasus or a wyvern. “I know how it works,” she answered. “On paper,” she muttered the last part.

The ex-mercenary knew he wouldn’t let this go and it was like he was going to hang this over her head for the rest of their days. For a split moment, she thought about turning back time, but she imagined a certain nagging voice at the back of her head would reprimand her for such misuse of the power. “I’m kind of surprised,” he admitted as he stepped closer to her as they let the wyverns enjoy their meal.

She allowed him to get close to her this time “I only taught you and everyone else what I learned from books and from Professor Manuela. But…” She looked back to Aenir, her shoulders relaxing as she watched the wyvern. “It’s not like I haven’t thought about it.”

“Hm… would you like to try?” Claude asked her.

Byleth looked up at him with a small tilt of her head. “Try what?”

He gave her a grin. “Flying.”

“Claude.”

“Come on, Teach.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Are you scared?”

She pressed her lips together firmly and found herself shifting her weight between her feet. She didn’t need to look up to see Claude’s triumphant smirk on his face, but when she did, she could see a look of fondness in his emerald eyes that reminded her of crafted emerald jewels. She felt a sort of warmth in her chest, and wasn’t quite sure what it was. Was she getting sick? No, she would know if she was. She thinks. 

A sigh finally left her lips. “I didn’t get a lot of chances of being around pegasus or wyverns as a mercenary. So it’s… a bit of a new experience for me,” she finally admitted to him, as close of an answer he was going to get for his question.

Claude gave a chuckle as he patted her back. “Well then, allow me to be the first to teach you then,” he grinned. “Trust me, by the end of today, you’ll be an expert,” he boldly claimed as he patted his chest with a closed fist.

Byleth smiled at his bravado, unable to stop the small laugh that bubbled up from her chest at how silly he looked, yet he was surprisingly fitting. When she settled down, she noticed the bright look he gave her. It was different from the other times he had looked at her and she felt a warmth rising up to her cheeks, hoping it wasn’t as noticeable as it felt. “Well, _professor_ ,” she teased, “what’s the first lesson?”

As if brought out of his thoughts, he smiled brightly, as bright as a star she thought, as he said, “Well first, proper riding gear. How about you ride with me and good old Kir?”

She took a moment to think about it and it made sense. She didn’t want to try to ride a wyvern by herself after all. “Alright then.”

* * *

When the troughs were placed away after Aenir and Kir were happily fed, Claude fitted Kir with a saddle that could fit two people instead of the usual one. He made sure it was securely fitted and it wouldn’t slip off any time. He did it with practiced ease and Byleth couldn’t help but watch with amazement. 

She took the time to take in Claude’s features. It was a warm day today so both of them had shed most of their outer layers. She could see the hardened muscles on his arms, from years of training with a bow and an axe and it wasn’t until now she realized he had grown much taller. Every movement he made was with clear precision and purpose, never losing the calculating touch he always had.

Byleth hadn’t realized how much five years had done for him until now. 

“Teach, you ready?”

She blinked and realized Claude had finished saddling Kir up for her. “Huh?” she dumbly let out before feeling herself being nudged forward. She jumped up startled and looked behind her to see Aenir letting out a playful chirp and having just nudged her forward with her snout. She could give a glare, but softened when she gave her those wide doe-like eyes, uncharacteristic for a wyvern like her. “Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking,” she said to Claude before giving Aenir a pat on her head and moving towards Claude.

“Oh?” Claude says as he looks at her with interest. “Was it my roguishly handsome face?” he asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.

Byleth let out a breathy ghost of a laugh as she approached Kir who was instructed to lay low towards the ground for her. “Sure,” she answered. She carefully took a hold of the horn from the saddle and effortlessly lifted herself up, swinging her leg over and positioning herself on the saddle. When she looked down towards Claude, he had a strange look on her face. “What?”

“You sure you haven’t ridden a wyvern before? Here I was about to offer you help on how to get on,” he stated.

“You do realize I did grow up with my father who was on horseback for a living, right?” Byleth asked with an eyebrow raised. “It didn’t seem any different from getting on a horse,” she reasoned with a shrug.

“Hm, true, I’ll give you that,” he chuckled. He soon lifted himself onto the saddle with ease himself, positioning himself behind her. He reached around her to take a hold of the reins and Byleth suddenly became hyper-aware of his close proximity to her, feeling his warmth enveloping her. She could just blame it on the warm weather today. “Ready, Teach?” he asked her. 

She took in a deep breath before nodding her head. “Ready.” 

He gave a nod in return as he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled on the reins. “Alright, we’ll go easy.” 

She felt the movement of Claude’s wyvern begin to rise and glanced to see Kir outstretching his wings before giving a strong flap, a gust of wind blowing beneath them as he pushed them off the ground with his hind legs. The sudden strong movement startled her as she gripped the horn of the saddle with one hand while the other gripped Claude’s arm tightly. Before she knew it, they were up in the air, the strong wind blowing against her face and causing some strands of her hair to fly haphazardly from her face. She couldn’t help but close her eyes and didn’t realize how tightly she was gripping onto the saddle and onto Claude until he spoke loudly in her ear.

“You okay Teach?” He asked.

“Y-yeah!” Byleth managed to shout back against the roaring wings as Kir gave another strong flap of his wings. 

She swore she could hear Claude laughing against her ear. She didn’t open her eyes until suddenly she felt the steady movement of gliding along the wind rather than the intense undulating of flapping through the air. Slowly, she opened her eyes and was met with the endless sea of blue. She felt breathless at the altitude and risked a peak underneath them. She gave a gentle squeeze to Claude’s arm when she realized how far up they had flown into the air, yet it felt exhilarating at the same time. Is this how he felt every time he was on his wyvern? “Enjoying the view?” he asked her, speaking loudly so she could hear him over the wind.

“It’s…” Her voice trailed off as she was mesmerized at how small everything looked. She looked up and the sight she saw was even more beautiful. In the distance, she could see the sight of the mountains and the forests surrounding the monastery. “Beautiful.”

She finally relaxed and found herself leaning back into Claude, his firm chest against her back as his warmth envelope her. If they weren’t so high up in the air, she felt like she could get lost in this feeling. She feels his chest rumble slightly as he clears his throat to get his attention. “Want to try to take over the reins?” he suddenly asked, his voice sounding strained.

Byleth wanted to ask if he was alright but decided against it for now as she carefully took the reins from him. “Okay, what do I do?” she asked. She was a bit worried that she could misguide Kir and potentially injure all three of them.

“Don’t worry, Teach, Kir is an expert flyer,” Claude tried to assure her. “And I’m here with you.”

Somehow his words assuaged some of her fears and she nodded her head. “Okay,” she said again, a bit more with confidence.

“If you want to fear him right or left, you just lean in the direction. Same thing when you want to go forward,” Claude instructed her. “It’s similar to horseback riding, you communicate with your legs.”

Byleth slowly nodded her head in understanding, having some understanding from riding her father’s horse on the road back in their mercenary days. She gave a firm squeeze of her thighs on the saddle, leaning forward. Kir seemed to understand as he began to fly forward. It was simple, but Byleth felt pride swelling up in her chest. “I think I got it,” she stated as she looked up to Claude, her face beaming up at him.

He had this sort of dazed, mesmerized look on his face for a moment before a beaming smile came up. “You got it, my friend!” he praised as he temporarily took the reins from her. “How about we try your first dive?” he grinned.

She blinked. “My first what?” she said.

“Kir!”

Kir had let out a loud chirp before suddenly dropping from the air. Byleth let out the loudest squeal that Claude would ever hear in his life as they suddenly dove towards the ground as he laughed loudly. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ngl this fic did get out of hand, but I hope you and everyone else enjoy it!!


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